Profile Information

Keep in mind, I studied advertising instead of marketing so I didn't have to take stats or cal...so maybe these aren't even relevant. I mean...I realize they're from a dif. dataset but it's the same search engine right? I know...I know...only if it was that simple.

Great post David. Viewing Google as an adversary, not an ally, is a big mistake that many SEOs make when it comes to ranking websites.

As you mentioned, there are some niches that have a lot of “noise”, particularly ecommerce niches because there is so much AdWords activity going on. But often times, they aren’t nearly as competitive from a link standpoint as one might think.

Add this with the fact you can probably outrank them with few linkers and better on-page optimization (which makes a bigger diference in eCommerce IMO b/c there's much more room for error), and the competition doesn’t seem so scary.

So is paying for a link gaming the alogrithm? If so, should all the sites that have links from the Yahoo web directory be penalized? And should Forbes be banned from the SERPs for continuing to sell links?

My point is...there are not set standards for "gaming" or "manipulating"...it all revolves around what Google decides is "gaming". More importantly, the rules are not universally applied. Some sites can get away with a lot more "gaming" than others.

Also, while I appreciate your opinion, I think that you should be aware of the fact that you're basically "laughing off" one of the most intelligent and respected people in SEO. I don't think Rand would have posted the converstaion...much less, polled it, if he thought it was an "open and shut" case.

If anything, I think GoDaddy's effective use of anchor text "spamming" is proof that anchor text still rules the SERPs. That's not to say that other factors don't matter...of course they do...but AT is the most powerful tool in an SEO's took it IMO.

Also, I don't think there's anything wrong with openly discussing the tactics used by spammers without directly mentioning their site.

Finally, I think that what's absent in this conversation is Google's arbitrary definition of spam, i.e. "manipulating the search results". I won't...but I could...give you countless definitions of the word "manipulation" and 90% of white hat SEO tactics fall within the confines of that word.